ABSTRACT
E ducational programming is a particular case study in how television has evolved froma monochrome, didactic message board to a media-rich multi-platform experience, inwhich broadcast material is only one part. Documentary has featured throughout that history, but has also been forced to adapt to meet changing needs. Television’s involvement with education has been a complex one, determined by the changing politics and culture of the time, and reflective of its audiences’ often conflicted views of education’s values. When Lord Reith formulated his mantra of the BBC’s mission ‘to inform, educate and entertain’ in the 1920s, Britain was still a profoundly hierarchical and deferential society, where everyone knew their place and accepted that the majority should do what they were told. Radio was seen as an extension of that unquestioning system, so Reith surprised the establishment by coming into conflict with the Conservative government of the day during the General Strike of 1926, when he insisted on reporting on all sides. The then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Winston Churchill, wanted to commandeer the BBC, as politicians have frequently aspired to do, and this threat was enough to pressure Reith to ban from the airwaves trade union representatives, Labour politicians and even the emollient voice of the Archbishop of Canterbury. This was the moment at which the BBC’s reputation for impartiality – and its compromised relationship with government – was forged. It is also an appropriate background against which to read the licence and limitations placed upon its educational role.
